


The Needs of the Many

by TMar



Category: Quantum Leap
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2019-08-22 04:30:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16590890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TMar/pseuds/TMar
Summary: Tamlyn comes to Project Quantum Leap with a message from God/Fate/Time.





	The Needs of the Many

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in 1993. Can't remember if I ever posted it anywhere.  
> I can't bear the thought of the people close to Sam thinking he will come home when he never will. That seems too cruel a thing to do to them. I feel that if he's not coming home, they have a right to know. Hence this story.

THE NEEDS OF THE MANY

Sam was between leaps, so Al was catching up on some administrative duties.  
Ever since Sam had got that hare-brained notion that the bartender from 1953  
was God, or Fate, or Time, something inside the Admiral had changed. He wasn't  
sure what it was, but he knew that something had shifted. He was used to  
shifts, like Donna. On Sam's third leap he'd stepped into the Imaging Chamber  
knowing that Sam was not married, and stepped out to find Donna Alysee Beckett  
standing there. He'd accepted it; he'd had no choice. Sam's swiss-cheesed mind  
had forgotten the timeline in which he had lost Donna, but Al had not,  
although now his memories included a timeline in which Sam had married Donna,  
too. He'd been best man, and Sam had been VERY, very nervous, even though Al  
had later kidded him about it. 

Something inside Al told him that a similar situation had occurred, but  
he didn't know what it was, or even how it had happened. He knew, therefore,  
that it involved him. Al did NOT want to ask Ziggy, in case she told him. He  
wondered if he was better off not knowing. Just then, his intercom buzzed and  
Tina's face appeared on the screen. "Admiral, there's a woman down by the gate  
who wants to see you, Security says."

"Who is it, Tina?"

"She said her name was Tamlyn something."

Al sighed. "Okay, gimme Security."

A Security guard appeared on Al's screen. "Yeah?" Al asked. "What's up?"

"Admiral, we have a woman here who wants to speak to the person in  
charge. Funny thing is, she doesn't know your name, but she does know the  
Project's name." The guard mumbled, almost inaudibly, "She mentioned, er, time  
travel, Sir."

So it wasn't some person who'd happened onto the place. "Okay, Corporal.  
Let her in. Have Doctor Fuller meet her."

"Yes, Sir."

***

Almost half an hour passed before Sammy-Jo stepped into Al's office. "Oh,  
boy," she said, and Al tried not to smile. Everyone on the Project picked that  
expression up sooner or later, but that wasn't why Al was smiling. He was  
thinking that Sammy-Jo looked just like her father when she said it.

"Problems?"

"I just stepped into view when our guest told me I wasn't the one she was  
supposed to talk to. When I asked her how she knew, she said she's psychic.  
Then she asked me if I knew where my father was. I told her I knew exactly  
where he was. That threw her. She said, 'Don't be so sure,' and asked to speak  
to you."

"She asked for me by name?"

"Nothing like that. She said I must get Sam's friend, the one who's in  
the Navy."

Tamlyn! Al suddenly remembered. Tamlyn Matsuda, who had, and then had  
not, been the victim of a Chinatown killer.

"Okay, show her in. We'll need to be alone."

"Sure, Boss." Sammy-Jo winked, and left.

Tamlyn entered, looking Al up and down. "Yes, it's you."

"I'm Admiral Albert Calavicci."

"You know who I am."

"Sure, the guard just told me."

"No, Admiral. You knew already."

Al conceded. "Yeah."

Tamlyn turned towards the door suddenly. "She doesn't know, does she?"

"Pardon me?"

"Doctor Fuller."

Al knew it would be a waste of time to play games with Tamlyn. She was  
too smart for that, even though she looked young and naive... Al knew she  
wasn't young, or naive. "No, she doesn't know."

"I had a feeling." Tamlyn looked away again. "She looks like him,  
though."

"She does," Al admitted. "I think I only notice because I know he's her  
father."

"And... Donna?" The word just came to Tamlyn, who, AFTER she'd said it,  
realised that Donna was Sam's wife.

"Donna knows, but I didn't tell her. She took one look at Sammy-Jo, and  
she knew. She didn't say anything for months afterwards, until one day when  
we were in the dining hall and I mentioned not knowing how I'd've lived  
without my children. Donna's face when she looked at Sammy-Jo gave her away."

"Sam did it," said Tamlyn.

"What?" asked Al, suddenly confused.

"Gave you that life."

"I don't..." began Al, but Tamlyn stopped him. "It doesn't matter. It's  
all over now."

"Then why are you here? Why now?"

"I have a message for you. I think... it's not from Sam, it's from...  
Whoever is leaping him around in time."

"What is it?"

Tamlyn took a deep breath, and Al knew suddenly that it was not good  
news. "He's not coming home," Tamlyn said.

"Who, Sam?"

"Yes."

"What, he won't be back when we try Sammy-Jo's retrieval theory next  
month? He won't be back for a long time still?"

"He won't be back EVER."

"That can't be true!" Al stood, suddenly shaking. "How do you know this?"

Tamlyn couldn't explain very well. How did you explain being psychic to  
someone? "I... I just know. I had a dream... of someone caught in a great  
whirlwind, trying to get out, but unable to. As long as he was in there, the  
wind didn't damage one flower in the meadow. Somehow, he knew that if he left  
the wind, the meadow would be ruined. So he remained there, until the  
whirlwind died down. And when it did, there was only one grave there. When I  
woke up I knew it was Sam in my dream."

To Al it was obvious that Tamlyn's dream was an allegory of Sam's leaps,  
and his effect on history. "You're saying Sam will never come home?"

"Never."

"Why did you come all this way to tell me?"

"Because he still needs you. He always will. And you must make provision  
for someone else to take over when you no longer can do whatever it is you do  
for him."

"This will destroy his wife."

"Isn't it better, Admiral, to tell her the truth rather than let her live  
with false hope? I knew I'd never see Sam again, so I mourned that loss and  
went on. As long as Donna thinks Sam might come back, she's in pain. God or  
Fate or Time wants to end her pain. Because that is what Sam chose when he met  
the Person leaping him. He chose to remain out there in time, to make the  
world a better place. He chose it."

"How do you know?"

"I've got a feeling about it."

"I'll have to tell Donna."

"I have to tell her."

"Why?"

Tamlyn shook her head. "I just have to."

***

Tamlyn stayed at the Project for two days waiting for Donna to get back from  
Washington. Al had asked her to stay with him, so she had had a marvellous  
time with him and Beth, and their one daughter who still lived at home.

Donna arrived in the night while they were having dinner outside on the  
patio. After introductions, Tamlyn told Sam's wife what she knew.

"He's not coming back, ever?"

"Never."

"Al, you believe this?"

The admiral looked away. "Yeah. Tamlyn's always known things like that.  
If she says Sam's not coming home, Sam's not coming home."

Donna got up and walked off the patio, onto the desert sand, and away  
from the house. Tamlyn followed her right up to the perimeter fence. "I'm so  
sorry."

"Why? Why are you telling me this?"

"Because this way will cause you less pain than waiting all your life for  
something that cannot be. Because Sam needs support, and when Al cannot do it,  
someone else will have to."

"I will."

The two women had been so busy talking that they hadn't heard Sammy-Jo  
come up behind them. "What?" asked Donna.

"I'll help. They can synchronise my brainwaves with Sam's."

"You may not be compatible," Donna pointed out.

"Yes I will." Sammy-Jo turned to Tamlyn. "I will because he's my father.  
Isn't that right?"

Tamlyn nodded. "Yes."

"How did -- " Donna asked suddenly.

"It just came to me, after Tamlyn told me not to be so sure of where my  
father was. I took a good look in the mirror."

"You do look like Sam," Donna smiled.

"What are you going to do, now?" Tamlyn asked, her mission over.

"I'll mourn him... and then go on. The Project won't stop; I'm a quantum  
physicist, so is Sammy-Jo. We still have work to do, and we'll do it." She  
turned and looked Tamlyn in the eye. "Will he ever remember me?"

Tamlyn shook her head. "I don't think so. Remembering you would cause him  
pain, and God or Fate or Time doesn't want that."

"I don't know how I'll face life without him," said Donna. "When I had  
hope... but you're right. I'll go on. I just wish... I wish we'd had that baby  
he wanted so much."

"You have me," Sammy-Jo said.

"You're all I have left of him."

Just then Donna's wrist link to Ziggy beeped. "Doctor Alysee, Doctor  
Beckett has leaped in."

Donna rushed back to the patio. "Sam's leaped in."

Al ran towards the main building, yelling, "Gushie!", but the light in  
a house nearer the building was already on, and Gushie came out, dressed for  
work, followed by Tina, who had a robe on. "Let's go to work, Gushie."

"Right, Admiral."

Tina, sensing she wasn't needed, went back inside.

Donna turned to Tamlyn. "Would you like to have a look at the Project?"

"Why not." Tamlyn wasn't overly enthusiastic, but she wanted to be  
polite, and she knew that Donna needed to be alone. 

"I'll take you," offered Sammy-Jo.

Only Donna and Beth remained on the patio. Beth stood and hugged Sam's  
wife tightly. "I want to tell you something," she said.

"What?"

"Sam made a difference."

"It's so... academic. I know it's selfish, Beth, but I want him here,  
with me."

"It's not academic, not to me. I met Sam long ago, long before you, or  
even Al, did."

"What?"

"In 1969, I'd given up hope. I thought Al was dead. So many M.I.A.'s  
never returned. One night, I... I was playing my favourite record."

"Georgia," supplied Donna.

"Yeah. I was standing there crying, and suddenly someone said my name.  
I turned around, and Sam Beckett was standing there."

"What?"

"He told me that my fairytale would have a happy ending, but only if I  
believed him. And then he told me Al was alive, and that he was coming home.  
Somehow, I knew it was the truth."

Donna's face showed the dawning comprehension.

"Sam travelled through time, to give me hope again. Without him, I... I  
don't know what I would have done. Probably married someone else to try and  
heal the pain. So you see, he gave Al back to me. Multiply that by every leap,  
and maybe you'll see why God or Fate or Time leaped him."

Donna said nothing, and Beth turned and quietly went into the house. 

***

For a long time Donna Alysee Beckett stood looking into the night sky. "Where  
are you, Sam? Know that I love you, that I always loved you. That I always  
will." 

And inside, Ziggy whispered to herself, "He knows, Doctor. He knows."

When I'm lost and feeling lonely  
I just look to heaven,  
I find my comfort there...  
God only knows where you are tonight.  
God only knows where you are tonight,  
Maybe then He'll tell me,  
Till then I close my eyes  
And say a prayer for you.

\- The Arms of Orion [Prince]


End file.
